1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a program installation method and device, and more particularly, to a program installation method and device for actively providing an acquisition method for preprocessing software.
2. Description of the Prior Art
UNIX and LINUX operating systems are characterized by stability, low price and support for multiple users, and are generally employed in servers. Since UNIX and Linux operating systems can run for more than one year without rebooting, the industry particularly employs the UNIX and Linux operating systems as platforms for software program development and circuit layout.
For example, in a UNIX or LINUX operating system, a program designer can input a “make” instruction to compile thousands of source code sets into several installation modules when installing an application program. When compiling the source code sets, a compilation program refers to a “shell” script which generates file dependency, a compilation order and an installation order (recorded in a makefile file) based on the employed system platform. As a result, the installed application program can be customized according to the system platform.
In general, to access full functions of the application program, preprocessing software corresponding to the application program has to be installed first. For example, multimedia broadcasting programs such as a flash player have to be installed, and then videos can be viewed in a browser. As to the UNIX or LINUX operating system, the compilation program detects the system platform and detects whether an essential program required by the application program is installed according to the shell script when compiling the application program. If the essential program is not installed, the compilation program stops compiling, and informs a user. Only if the essential program is installed can the shell script be completely executed and then generate the makefile file recording dependencies among the source code sets, the compilation order and the installation order. However, when the compilation program detects a preprocessing program which is not essential to the application program in the system platform, the compilation program continues to execute the shell script, and merely records information of the unessential preprocessing program in a log file and removes functions corresponding to the unessential preprocessing program from the application program (not compiled into the installation modules). The most troublesome situation is that help messages about the uninstalled unessential preprocessing program are poorly recorded in the log file, and therefore even professional software programmers spend a huge amount of effort searching through the help messages. That is, when the compilation is completed, the user still has a hard time knowing whether the application programs have fully completed or only essential functions. Even if the user attempts to install the unessential preprocessing program manually, help messages are hard to find and read from the log file.
Therefore, improving compilation interfaces of the UNIX and LINUX operating systems to enhance program development efficiency has been a major focus of the industry.